How Canada will help Steelers’ north-south game

PITTSBURGH — Matt Canada might be the new quarterbacks coach for the Steelers this season, but his biggest effect just might come on the team's running game.

Canada was hired to work with third-year quarterback Mason Rudolph and either Devlin Hodges or Paxton Lynch, depending on which one wins the No. 3 job behind Ben Roethlisberger. Randy Fichtner, who also served as the quarterbacks coach in 2018 and 2019, remains the offensive coordinator, overseeing the installation of the scheme and calling plays on game days. But he also gets input from his entire offensive staff when building that game plan and installing the scheme.

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Canada is known for his ability to scheme up plays in the running game, whether it be via jet sweeps to the wide receivers or zone option reads with the running backs. Mike Tomlin often says he doesn't care where good ideas come from, only that they come.

In this case, Canada’s pre-snap motions and other college innovations would prove worthy of inclusion in the Steelers offense. According to NFL analyst Warren Sharp, the Steelers used pre-snap motion 34 percent of the time in the first three quarters of a game -- it’s often meaningless in the fourth quarter of games when a team is holding a big lead or trailing. That was the seventh-lowest in the NFL last season.

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